On October 10, 2012, the Illinois Opportunity Project released its '''2012 Illinois Legislative Vote Card 97th General Assembly'''. The Vote Card included information about 8 votes in the [[Illinois State Senate]] and 8 votes in the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] that related to "issues that impact the families of Illinois." Each legislator received a grade from A to F on the basis of "how often his or her votes protected taxpayers’ interests and promoted economic growth."<ref name="IOP"/> Although 2012 was the IOP's first year publishing the Vote Card, the Illinois Policy Institute, a pro-market think tank, published a similar vote card in 2010 and 2011.<ref>[http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4454 Illinois Policy Institute, "2011 Illinois General Assembly Legislative Vote Card: Mid Year Report," October 11, 2011]</ref>

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On October 10, 2012, the Illinois Opportunity Project released its '''2012 Illinois Legislative Vote Card 97th General Assembly'''. The Vote Card included information about 8 votes in the [[Illinois State Senate]] and 8 votes in the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] that related to "issues that impact the families of Illinois." Each legislator received a grade from A to F on the basis of "how often his or her votes protected taxpayers’ interests and promoted economic growth."<ref name="IOP"/> Although 2012 was the IOP's first year publishing the Vote Card, the Illinois Policy Institute, another conservative-libertarian think tank, published a similar vote card in 2010 and 2011.<ref>[http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4454 Illinois Policy Institute, "2011 Illinois General Assembly Legislative Vote Card: Mid Year Report," October 11, 2011]</ref>

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The IOP chose votes on Medicaid restructuring, charter school funding, campaign financing, and cigarette and satellite taxes, among other issues.

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In the House, there were 9 A's, 17 B's, 23 C's, 26 D's, and 43 F's. The mean score for state representatives was 50.61 (D-). In the Senate, there 15 A's, 6 B's, 6 C's, 5 D's, and 43 F's. The mean score for state senators was 54.19 (D). One senator and two representatives did not receive a letter grade because they were not present for enough of the select votes.

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===Highest and lowest scores===

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Two representatives and eleven senators, all [[Republican Party|Republicans]] received perfect scores of 100 (A+).

The Illinois Opportunity Project weights all votes equally. Each legislator's score is calculated by dividing the number of times he or she voted as recommended by the IOP by the number of selected votes at which he or she was present. The IOP using the following grading scale to assign letter grades.<ref>[https://illinoisopportunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IOP-2012-IL-Vote-Card-FINAL.pdf Illinois Opportunity Project, 2012 Illinois Legislative Vote Guide 97th General Assembly]</ref>

Revision as of 10:54, 4 September 2013

Contents

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its Legislative Vote Card, grading all members in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."[1][2]

2012 report

On October 10, 2012, the Illinois Opportunity Project released its 2012 Illinois Legislative Vote Card 97th General Assembly. The Vote Card included information about 8 votes in the Illinois State Senate and 8 votes in the Illinois House of Representatives that related to "issues that impact the families of Illinois." Each legislator received a grade from A to F on the basis of "how often his or her votes protected taxpayers’ interests and promoted economic growth."[2] Although 2012 was the IOP's first year publishing the Vote Card, the Illinois Policy Institute, another conservative-libertarian think tank, published a similar vote card in 2010 and 2011.[3]

The IOP chose votes on Medicaid restructuring, charter school funding, campaign financing, and cigarette and satellite taxes, among other issues.

In the House, there were 9 A's, 17 B's, 23 C's, 26 D's, and 43 F's. The mean score for state representatives was 50.61 (D-). In the Senate, there 15 A's, 6 B's, 6 C's, 5 D's, and 43 F's. The mean score for state senators was 54.19 (D). One senator and two representatives did not receive a letter grade because they were not present for enough of the select votes.

Highest and lowest scores

Two representatives and eleven senators, all Republicans received perfect scores of 100 (A+).

Methodology

The Illinois Opportunity Project weights all votes equally. Each legislator's score is calculated by dividing the number of times he or she voted as recommended by the IOP by the number of selected votes at which he or she was present. The IOP using the following grading scale to assign letter grades.[4]

Lower Limit

Upper Limit

Grade

87.50

100.00

A

75.00

87.49

B

62.50

74.99

C

50.00

62.49

D

0

49.99

F

This is the grading rubric used by the Illinois Opportunity Project Institute for its 2012 Legislative Vote Card.